Naruto says… “There are no bad people among ramen lovers!”
Naruto is a hot Japanese export to the US. It is not a new cell phone or some sort of electronics, but an anime series. I have to blame my friend Sam from getting me hooked on this anime series. When I visited Sam in North Carolina, I noticed him transfixed on YouTube doing searches like “Naruto Episode 1″ and watching each and every episode. Last I talked to Sam, he has watched all 200+ episodes twice.
It should be no surprise to most of you that I have a mild case of being an Otaku. Having watched countless hours of bad anime, when you stumble upon “the good stuff”, it is almost like achieving enlightenment for a couple of weeks. For women, I equate it to maybe like stumbling across a perfect dress on a 70% off sale rack or when you hear a new song on the radio that speaks directly to your heart.
What makes Naruto series unique is that it brings the mysterious world of the Japanese Ninja into everyday terms. The conception of a ninja here in the US is laughable and borderline idiotic. We have… lets see… Chris Farley in Beverley Hills Ninja, Ask a Ninja, and an assortment of late-night low-budget ninja and martial arts movies.
Instead of making the ideals and the nobility of the Ninja inaccessible or godlike, this series celebrates the ninja craft with plenty of humor and humanity by following the lives of Naruto Uzumaki and his friends as they grow to become and understand the nature of a ninja.
Naruto has taken US by storm. Take a look at these kids in full cosplay (costume play) of a scene in Naruto. You can catch Naruto on the Cartoon Network, but both Christine and I (yes I got her watching as well) recommend the original japanese language version with subtitles on YouTube. The english voice actors do not work with the people that write the script, and do not correctly capture the mood or portray the characters.
One of the endearing facets of the Naruto character is his penchant for eating Japanese ramen every meal. In one episode the Naruto character and a friend, Choji, explain the proper way to eat and critique ramen similar to the ultimate ramen movie, Juzo Itahi’s Tampopo. It is gratifying to see the writers of the Naruto series pay homage to this quirky but brilliant and underappreciated movie.
My favorite quote in the series is: “There are no bad people among ramen lovers!” On the surface this is a simple quote of a naive child; however, an ongoing theme of the series is that even the most evil of people are human, albeit tragic. I hope to remember to share the joys of life even with people I disagree with.
